Daniel grew up in Alberta in the Kananaskis Valley at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. He started doing animation when he was very young and began with simple flipbooks. It wasn't long before his Dad had him in front of a computer using Autodesk Animator to realize his creations. He hasn't stopped since. Daniel lives in Montreal, Quebec.

This video explores a few techniques that can be used to create multiple pose-able hands, fingers and feet using nested compositions and sliders. This technique can be applied to simple hands without moving fingers or fully articulate hands and feet.

This video explores a few techniques that can be used to create multiple pose-able hands, fingers and feet using nested compositions and sliders. This technique can be applied to simple hands without moving fingers or fully articulate hands and feet.Read More…

IK is finally here for After Effects! It has actually been around for a while thanks to Nicolas Dufresne's Duik Tools. You can now create inverse kinematic chains for fast and intuitive character movement just similar to what you will find in high end 3D packages. You will no longer have to manually rotate each joint and fight with feet slipping and dipping into the ground.

IK is finally here for After Effects! It has actually been around for a while thanks to Nicolas Dufresne's Duik Tools. You can now create inverse kinematic chains for fast and intuitive character movement just similar to what you will find in high end 3D packages. You will no longer have to manually rotate each joint and fight with feet slipping and dipping into the ground.Read More…

Making clothes react convincingly doesn't have to be an impossible mission of frame by frame keying. Using simple expressions and the puppet tool you can make clothes react automatically to your characters movements.

Making clothes react convincingly doesn't have to be an impossible mission of frame by frame keying. Using simple expressions and the puppet tool you can make clothes react automatically to your characters movements.Read More…

There are many ways to connect your character together and the best way often depends on the style of the puppets joints and the clothes it wears. This video explores the many ways to make hard and soft joints and refine them to get the best effect.

There are many ways to connect your character together and the best way often depends on the style of the puppets joints and the clothes it wears. This video explores the many ways to make hard and soft joints and refine them to get the best effect.Read More…

In this video I will show you how to connect all of the head and face controls from a nested composition to a null object in the parent composition. This will get all of the controllable properties of your character in one place making them easier to animate; no more jumping through nested compositions while animating!

In this video I will show you how to connect all of the head and face controls from a nested composition to a null object in the parent composition. This will get all of the controllable properties of your character in one place making them easier to animate; no more jumping through nested compositions while animating!Read More…

In this tutorial I use CC Lens and the Magnify filter to create rounded eye balls and simulate really thick lens glasses. I also show you how to convert layer space coordinates composition space so that you can get 2D effects to follow 3D objects.

In this tutorial I use CC Lens and the Magnify filter to create rounded eye balls and simulate really thick lens glasses. I also show you how to convert layer space coordinates composition space so that you can get 2D effects to follow 3D objects.Read More…

This Tutorial shows you how to apply the painted displacement map to the characters head. I also demonstrate how to use an animate-able displacement map composition to create a more detailed deformable face.

This Tutorial shows you how to apply the painted displacement map to the characters head. I also demonstrate how to use an animate-able displacement map composition to create a more detailed deformable face.Read More…

Displacement maps are the theme of this video which outlines the basics of how they work and gives a few examples of how to paint them and what affect they can have on your object and its materials.

Displacement maps are the theme of this video which outlines the basics of how they work and gives a few examples of how to paint them and what affect they can have on your object and its materials.Read More…

This video shows you how to take the character controlling Null object from the head composition and bring it into the top level character composition so that you can animate everything for the character from one place.

This video shows you how to take the character controlling Null object from the head composition and bring it into the top level character composition so that you can animate everything for the character from one place.Read More…

This tutorial demonstrates a technique for creating a "Look At" object for the eyes so that the pupils don't have to be animated individually. This also includes creating a slider to make the eyes go cross eyed or wall-eyed.

This tutorial demonstrates a technique for creating a "Look At" object for the eyes so that the pupils don't have to be animated individually. This also includes creating a slider to make the eyes go cross eyed or wall-eyed.Read More…